A United States–based Nigerian professor of History and African Diaspora Studies and filmmaker, Saheed Aderinto, is set to launch ‘Women of Fuji’, a documentary that highlights the role of women in the Fuji music industry since the genre was popularised in the 1970s.
According to details seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the film documentary was shot in Nigeria, the United States, London, Belgium, Ghana, and Italy, and is scheduled to premiere on 8 March at the J. Randle Center for Yoruba Culture and History, Onikan Roundabout, Lagos Island.
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The documentary is the second episode of ‘The Fuji Documentary’ series, whose first episode was launched in February 2024, and centered on late Fuji music giant, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister.
According to the film director and producer, Mr. Aderinto, a professor, the second episode, ‘Women of Fuji’, unveils the numerous but rarely recognised roles of women in Fuji. He explained that the episode highlights women who have been neglected in the chronicle of bringing Fuji to life.
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“In this episode of The Fuji Documentary, we turn our attention to the place of women in Fuji. Fuji goes beyond the conventional frames of entertainment to include a wide range of identities that intersect deeply with virtually every component of African cultures,” he added.
Encomiums
The documentary has since enjoyed rave reviews among critics and academics.
A professor at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome, stated that the film offered emotional resonance in both historical context and contemporary urgency.
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“Its interdisciplinary approach, drawing on musicology, gender studies, and cultural history, enriches our understanding of how power, creativity, and exclusion operate within artistic traditions.
“The result is more than a music documentary. It is a reclamation project that insists women be recognized not as muses or followers, but as visionaries who have shaped Fuji music from its inception,” she said.
Commenting on the elements of affection and creativity that profoundly impact society in Episode II of the documentary, a professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Teresa Barnes said, “This tour-de-force is a must-watch. The second installment of creative historian Saheed Aderinto’s frying pan and into the fire of women singing, playing, and wryly critiquing men, love, family, and society.”
An Associate Professor at the University of Chicago, Abimbola Adelakun, described the film as a tribute to women who made music for the previous and current generations.
“A well-resourced project with the rigor one would expect of a scholar of Prof Aderinto’s calibre, The Women of Fuji is a grand tribute to the women who made the music that made a generation but have hardly received their due credit.”
The film features prominent women ‘Fuji-cians’ such as Alake Alasela, who released her first Fuji album under Lanrewaju Adepoju Records, which marked a breakthrough for women in the genre. Others are Karimotu Aduke, wife of Sikiru Ayinde ‘Barrister’, Mutiat Amope, Musili Arike, Asisatu Amope, and Muinat Ejide, among other younger acts.
The projects, ‘The Fuji Documentary’ series, have focused more on mirroring the success and trajectory of Fuji music, one of the numerous musical creations and recreations of the period between 1960s till date.
The first episode of the documentary centered on the late Fuji music maestro, Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, and was screened at academic conferences, film festivals, public venues, and universities across Africa, Europe, and North America before being released on YouTube in September 2025.
Today, Fuji is considered the most dominant of the Yoruba musical traditions, influencing so many other genres, including Afrobeats, hip-hop, and gospel music.
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